[ONC ROUND ONE WINNER: 4th place] When he discovers his husband has been replaced, an android hunter must find the impostor in time to rescue the man he loves. SynTracker is one half of a duology of novellas. Both follow the same sequence of events from different PoVs. SynTracker is Ian's tale; BioSynth is Quentin's. Collectively, they're known as Syn. ≡≡≡ Ian Morgan is a man who does the wrong job for the right reasons. Honour-bound to keep the streets safe, Ian is a SynTracker: someone whose job is to hunt down BioSynths - obsolete yet incredibly dangerous synthetic self-aware weapons - and return them to the government, to be reprogrammed and repurposed. It'd be an easier task if they hadn't been programmed to mimic reactions that allow them to pass as humans, complete with tears. Deeply in love with Quentin, his husband of eight years, Ian's home life more than makes up for the work that wears him down. But a car crash that could have killed Quentin reveals a shocking truth: his husband has been replaced by a BioSynth. With the impostor on the loose, Ian must now Track it, knowing he needs to comb its memories for any clue regarding Quentin's whereabouts - if he's even alive. ≡≡≡ SynTracker was written for the Open Novella Contest 2021 and is based on prompt #4: You're a weapon, and weapons don't weep. It features a romance between two men. ≡≡≡ ONC Round One Winner: 4th Place Speculative Fiction Awards, Utopia/Distopia: Runner-Up R4R Awards, Sci-Fi: 2nd Place

[ONC 2021 WINNER: 3rd place] When a car accident reveals a shocking secret even he didn't know about himself, an android finds himself hunted by his own husband. BioSynth is one half of a duology of novellas. Both follow the same sequence of events from different PoVs. BioSynth is Quentin's tale; SynTracker is Ian's. Collectively, they're known as Syn. ≡≡≡ Photographer Quentin Morgan has almost everything he could ask for. With a dream job that takes him all over the world, married to the love of his life for the past eight years, it's only his husband's line of work that leaves a bad taste in his mouth. Ian is a SynTracker, someone who hunts down BioSynths - obsolete yet incredibly dangerous synthetic self-aware weapons that can pass as humans - and returns them to the government, to be reprogrammed and repurposed. Quentin finds the job distasteful, but Ian says they're weapons, and weapons don't weep. A car crash that could have killed Quentin reveals the shocking truth: he, himself, is a BioSynth. Hurt, scared, and now hunted by the man he loves, who thinks him an impostor, Quentin is thrown into a suddenly hostile world, where the stakes are his very existence. ≡≡≡ BioSynth was written for the Open Novella Contest 2021 and is based on prompt #4: You're a weapon, and weapons don't weep. It features a romance between two men. ≡≡≡ ONC Winner: 3rd Place ONC Round One Ambassador Pick Speculative Fiction Awards, Sci-Fi Category: Winner

(HONORABLE MENTION) Rik Sandro is a dimension traveller. Jumping from one version of the world to another was intriguing at first, until he discovered he can never go home. Now all these new beginnings are just a pain. Maybe it's time to stay in one place. Maybe it's time to settle down. Maybe it's time to fall in love. However, when his latest lover is murdered, Rik fears that he's being stalked and now, he might not have any control over how, where, or when, his life will end. (HONORABLE MENTION and ROUND TWO WINNER ONC2021 ) A clockpunk adventure, my entry for the ONC 2021. (Clockpunk / LGBTQ / Romance / Horror)

In a world where the majority no longer dream, and happy thoughts are easily lost, nineteen-year-old Eli sells memories. With no family or home, the young man travels the country dealing to those in need. When he runs out of memories to sell, Eli heads to the town of Los Demonios hoping to find someone to harvest from. Ashlyn carries dreams which others have lost inside her. Her thoughts are filled with recollections belonging to people she's never met. Haven is an albino Kadisin, a half-mortal, half-angel who must kill in order to survive. He is a man plagued by seventy years of things he's seen and done. Welcome to my entry for the 2021 ONC! I'm using prompt number 29 "I am in the mood to dissolve in the sky." -Virginia Woolf ONC Shortlister 2021. Added to The Badass King reading list on @BadassReads. Second place in the @PrettyInPunk Mystery and Thriller awards. Warning for typical Christine darkness, swearing, some sexual and romantic themes.